Visions'11 Expedition
The University of Washington's School of Oceanography incorporates high-tech products to capture, route and stream footage from the ocean floor, 400 kilometers offshore, back to the university live.Visions’11, a cooperative effort between the University of Washington and the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), commenced on August 11 in Seattle, Washington, aboard the 274 foot Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson. The purpose of the expedition was to continue to prepare for, survey, and assess the ongoing installation of the OOI’s high power and high bandwidth cabled ocean observatory. For the expedition, the University of Washington provided technical support for video operations and management of a number of cameras on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher served a significant role for Visions’11, as the only video switcher on the expedition. Its ability to feed multiple sources of footage from the numerous cameras located on the ocean floor was an incredibly important feature, instrumental in streaming video out over satellite.
On Visions’11, the University also used the Blackmagic Design Micro Videohub to handle all routing needs for the network, which included routing footage from HD underwater and Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras on the Thompson. Also included in the workflow were Blackmagic Design’s OpenGear Converters, which were used to embed audio for both scientific recording and satellite streaming. Ed McNichol, the University of Washington’s Technical Video Project Manager, said, “We were a day and a half from land at maximum speed, so the equipment had to work. The Blackmagic Design products have proven to be incredibly reliable, and we were able to trust the ATEM Switcher, which fit seamlessly into our workflow and budget, to handle anything we needed it to.”
ATEM Production Switchers
The ATEM product switchers were designed with powerful broadcast grade features, incredibly small size, and low cost to be used as a live production switcher.
ATEM production switchers include 4 upstream keyers each with independent chroma, shaped, and linear keying; 2 downstream keyers, stinger effects, graphic wipes, media players for stills and clips; and a built in DVE for transitions or key repositioning. For portable use, the built in Multi View showing all cameras, preview, and program, can be viewed on a single SDI or HDMI monitor.
ATEM also includes multiple of HDMI and SDI inputs allowing both professional SDI cameras as well as consumer HDMI cameras and computers to be connected. Only ATEM allows low cost HDMI consumer cameras in a professional switcher, so it’s easy for customers starting out in live production. ATEM includes a free software control panel and media pool management software for Mac OS X and Windows XP. ATEM is sold independently of the hardware control panel allowing lower initial cost and greater customization.
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Posted by Bruce at 12 Dec 2011 
Categories: Entertainment Engineering
Tags: Visions'11 University of Washington Oceanography streaming video underwater video Blackmagic Design National Science Foundation Thomas G. Thompson ATEM Productions
Categories: Entertainment Engineering
Tags: Visions'11 University of Washington Oceanography streaming video underwater video Blackmagic Design National Science Foundation Thomas G. Thompson ATEM Productions
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